Published: Mar 10, 2015, 03:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 10, 2015, 03:28 PM (IST)
Seddon Park, Hamilton was graced with a brilliant hundred from Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan, as he powered his side to a comfortable eight-wicket win against Ireland in what was both the sides fifth game in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
Winning the toss and batting first, Ireland were off to a good start and they lost their first wicket in the 15th over, with the score on 89. It was the spin of Ravichandran Ashwin, which completely bamboozled the Irish batsmen, who have little experience playing quality spin-attack, thanks to the ICC fixtures. Captain William Porterfield (67) and Paul Stirling (42) played good hands but the middle-order, which flourished at Hobart against Zimbabwe, found it tough to negotiate the spinners. Hobart centurion Ed Joyce fell for two and Andy Balbirnie, who had scored 97 in the previous game, could just manage a run-a-ball 24. Veteran Niall O’Brien scored a fighting 75, which helped Ireland reach a competitive total of 259. (ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Points Table)
Hamilton saw predominantly Indian support but Irish supporters too turned in and with both the nation’s flag bearing stark resemblances, Seddon Park looked like a sea of saffron, white and green.(India vs Ireland: Pick of the tweets)
However, in a small ground and against a batting line-up like India, the total wasn’t going to be enough and Irish bowlers had to produce something incredible to restrict them but as expected the Indian openers milked the bowling with ease. While Dhawan scored a 100 from 85 balls, Rohit Sharma’s 64 contained some lustrous strokes. The finishing touches were provided by Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, as India cruised to their fifth consecutive win in the tournament and the Indian bowling managed to bowl out their oppositions on all five occasions. In doing so, MS Dhoni surpassed Sourav Ganguly’s eight consecutive wins in World Cup matches and now the Indian ODI captain is joint with Clive Lloyd at nine.
Dhawan’s knock won him the man-of-the-match and India will now play Zimbabwe in Auckland on Saturday, while Ireland will face Pakistan on Sunday.
Brief scores:
Ireland 259 in 49 overs (William Porterfield 67, Paul Stirling 42, Niall O’Brien 75; Mohammed Shami 3-41, Ravichandran Ashwin 2-38) lost to India 260 for 2 in 36.5 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 100, Rohit Sharma 64, Virat Kohli 44*, Ajinkya Rahane 33*; Stuart Thompson 2-45) by eight wickets
